IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA
AT Melbourne
CRIMINAL DIVISION	Revised
Not Restricted
Suitable for Publication	
Case No.CR-22-00080 

DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS		
		
v		
		
GALEN DENAHY		

---

JUDGE:	HIS HONOUR JUDGE HANNEBERY	
WHERE HELD:	Melbourne	
DATE OF HEARING:	25 May 2022	
DATE OF SENTENCE:	27 May 2022	
CASE MAY BE CITED AS:	DPP v Denahy	
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION:	[2022] VCC 766		

REASONS FOR SENTENCE
---

Subject:	CRIMINAL LAW
Catchwords: 	Home invasion – causing injury recklessly – theft of a motor vehicle – plea of guilty – remorse – general deterrence – denunciation 
Legislation Cited:	Crimes Act 1958; Sentencing Act 1991
Sentence:	Three years and three months imprisonment and  I order that you serve a period of two years and three months before becoming eligible for parole.

---

APPEARANCES:
	Counsel	Solicitors	
For the DPP	Ms C. Paganis	Solicitor for the Office of Public Prosecutions	
			
For the Accused	Mr B. Tait	Tait Lawyers	

HIS HONOUR:

Introduction
1	Galen Denahy, you have pleaded guilty to an indictment containing three charges being:
(a)	Home invasion contrary to s77A Crimes Act 1958, the maximum penalty for which is 25 years imprisonment;
(b)	Causing injury recklessly, contrary to s18 Crimes Act 1958, the maximum penalty for which is five years imprisonment; and
(c)	Theft of a motor vehicle, contrary to s74(1) Crimes Act 1958, the maximum penalty for which is 10 years imprisonment. 
2	You have also consented to this court hearing two summary offences being commit indictment offence whilst on bail and contravene conduct condition of bail.  The maximum penalties for both offences is three months imprisonment. 
3	Home invasion is a Category 2 offence under s3(1) Sentencing Act 1991.  The court must impose a custodial sentence unless an exception applies.  It was not contended by the defence that any exception was applicable in this case. 
Summary of Offending
4	An uncontested prosecution opening was tendered on the plea.  Your offending can be summarised as follows: 
5	On 16 September 2021, you and an unknown co-offender attended the victims’ house in Watsonia North.  You knocked on the door.  As the victim opened the door, you and the co-offender pushed past and went into the house.  (Charge 1 – home invasion). 
6	Once inside, you punched the victim in the face, causing them to fall to the ground and a mirror on an entrance table to shatter.  You continued to assault the victim whilst asking the victim where the keys to his car were.  The injuries caused as a result were bruises on the forehead, a bruise between his scapular blades, a small bruise on his knee, an orbital fracture on the left side of his face and grazes to his face.  (Charge 2 – recklessly cause injury). 
7	The victim’s wife came downstairs and yelled 'I’m calling the police, I’m calling the neighbours, take what you want, just don’t hurt my husband and get out'.  You and your co-offender fled the address in different directions on foot without taking any property. 
8	You located an unoccupied vehicle with the keys in the ignition and the motor running, approximately 450 metres from the house.  You got into the car and placed it into reverse.  As you were doing so, the owner of the vehicle ran over, opened the driver’s side door, leant over you, put the car into park and took the keys out of the ignition.  During this incident you said 'Sorry, I had to do it'.  You then got out of the vehicle, and ran away.  (Charge 3 – theft of a motor vehicle). 
9	During this offending, you were subject to bail granted by the Heidelberg Magistrates Court on 6 October 2021 for unrelated offending that is currently proceeding through the summary stream.  (Summary Charge 5 – commit indictable offence whilst on bail). 
10	On 30 September 2021, police attended your bail address.  Your parents advised that they had no knowledge of where you had been staying.  (Summary Charge 6 – contravene conduct condition of bail).  An arrest was later scheduled and executed on 2 November 2021 and you have been remanded in custody since that date. 
Victim Impact Statement
11	A victim impact statement was tendered on the plea and read aloud by the prosecutor.  This statement sets out the distressing experience suffered by the victim and his wife.  He says that the crime has 'impacted us immensely and completely derailed us'.  He has endured a trauma that he expects will change his life forever.  He has suffered injuries to his face that have had ongoing effects.
12	I take this into account pursuant to s5 of the Sentencing Act 1991 (Vic).
Nature and Gravity of Offence 
13	The offence of home invasion is inherently very serious, as is evident from its maximum penalty of 25 years imprisonment.
14	In this case, the offending occurred in the early hours of the morning.  The victims were entitled to feel safe in their home.  You destroyed this sense of security by entering their premises in the company of another offender.  Your intention was to steal.  The offending did not display any sophisticated planning, but neither was it spontaneous.  Whilst neither you nor your co-offender were armed, you got into to the house by knocking on the door.  That this was the way you chose to enter the house, shows that you knew you would encounter an occupant of the premises. Your moral culpability for the offending is high.
15	Charge 1 is a serious example of an inherently serious offence.
16	Upon entering the premises, completely without justification, you punched the male victim to the face.  That punch was such as to cause him to fall to the ground and for a mirror to be shattered.  The injuries that resulted from your actions are at the upper end of those that are capable of being dealt with by a charge under s18 Crimes Act 1958.  Those injuries were inflicted in the victim’s own home, during a home invasion. 
17	This is a very serious example of recklessly causing injury.  The criminality covered by Charge 2 goes beyond that already dealt with under Charge 1 and as such, some significant level of cumulation with the sentence imposed on that charge is appropriate.
18	Charge 3, theft of motor vehicle, relates to you reversing the victim’s vehicle for a very short distance before abandoning the car and attempting to flee the scene. Considered in isolation, this is a relatively modest example of the offence.  It was opportunistic offending after the discovery of keys in the ignition, after you had fled the scene of the home invasion the subject of Charge 1.  There need only be modest cumulation for this offence on Charges 1 and 2. 
19	Summary Charge 5, commit indictable offence whilst on bail, is completely constituted by the commission of the offence the subject of Charge 1.  However, the fact that you were on bail during this offending is an aggravating feature of the offending on Charges 1, 2 and 3. 
20	I must ensure you are not doubly punished and the penalty for Charge 5 will reflect this.
21	Summary Charge 6, relates to a failure by you to reside at the address designated on your bail conditions.  I intend to impose a modest financial penalty for this offence.
Personal Circumstances
22	Galen Denahy, you are 24 years old.  You grew up in Castlemaine and moved to Melbourne 12 years ago.  You have a younger brother and sister.  You attended Collingwood College where you completed Year 10 schooling.  You have worked in various manual jobs and prior to this offending, worked with the COVID reporting hotline.  You commenced a carpentry apprenticeship in 2017, but did not complete it.  Prior to being remanded in custody in 2021, you instruct that you were seriously assaulted and placed in an intensive care unit. 

23	Up until September 2021, you had not come to the attention of the criminal justice system.  For reasons that you instruct relate to emotional distress caused by the end of a relationship, you left your employment and your behaviour thereafter deteriorated rapidly.
24	All your offending behaviour is connected to your use of drugs, in particular the drug ice.  At the time of the offending, you were on bail subject to your compliance with the CISP program.  Unfortunately, this intervention was unsuccessful in addressing what was by then, a significant downward spiral.
25	Since your arrest and remand on these matters, you have obtained employment within the prison environment.  You are currently working as a cleaning billet. Tendered on the plea were four certificates confirming your completion of various programs whilst in custody, including one directly related to your use of ice.  You have no prior criminal history, albeit there are some matters pending.  Based on your own instructions to your counsel, you have been a drug user since your teens and an ice user since the age of 20.  Prior to September 2021, you were able to retain full-time employment and had no encounters with the criminal justice system.  You have family support.  Your mother remotely attended your plea hearing.
26	All of these are all matters which, in combination with the encouraging progress you have made during this current period in custody, justify some optimism about your prospects of rehabilitation.
27	It is, however, only eight months since the offending and the heavy drug use that surrounded it.  The offending itself is very serious and revealed a troubling capacity to violently confront someone in their own home.  
28	You are still a very young man.  You were only 23 years old at the time of the offending.  There is a strong community interest in fostering your rehabilitation and this must be given significant weight in sentencing. 
29	Balancing all these matters, I consider that some caution must be expressed about your prospects of rehabilitation.  I consider them to be guarded.  Much will depend upon your motivation and ability to remain abstinent from drugs.
Plea of Guilty 
30	You have pleaded guilty to these charges at the earliest reasonable stage in proceedings.  The matter resolved at the committal mention.  No witnesses were cross-examined.  By your plea of guilty, you have spared the time and resources that would otherwise have been expended on contested proceedings.  You spared the victims of this matter the difficult process of giving evidence.  The utilitarian value of your plea is especially significant, having regard to the impact that pandemic restrictions have had on court listings.
31	Apart from the plea, you have expressed your contrition, and empathy for the victims in your letter to the court.  I accept that you are genuinely remorseful.
32	Your period on remand has been served at a time when pandemic restrictions have made the prison environment more burdensome than would otherwise have been the case.  Whilst the level of restriction has eased somewhat from the height of the lockdowns, there are likely to be ongoing additional deprivations of liberty within the prison environment for the foreseeable future.  I take these additional burdens of imprisonment into account in mitigation of sentence.
Sentencing Submissions 
33	Mr Tait appeared on your behalf and submitted that a period of imprisonment, with a head sentence and a non-parole period was inevitable in the circumstances. 
34	Ms Paganis appeared for the prosecution and similarly submitted that a period of imprisonment, with a head sentence and non-parole period was appropriate. 
Sentence Principles 
35	The nature of Charge 1 especially, is such that general deterrence is an important sentencing consideration.  I must also seek to specifically deter you from further offending. 
36	I must express denunciation for you conduct.  I must protect the community.  I must impose a penalty that represents a just punishment in all the circumstances and reflects your prospects of rehabilitation as I have found them to be.
Sentence 
37	Galen Denahy, I sentence you as follows:
38	On Charge 1, home invasion, you are sentenced to two years and nine months imprisonment.
39	On Charge 2, cause injury recklessly, you are sentenced to nine months imprisonment.
40	On Charge 3, theft of a motor vehicle, you are sentenced to four months imprisonment.
41	On Summary Charge 5, commit indictable offence on bail, you are convicted and discharged.
42	On Summary Charge 6, contravene conduct condition of bail, you are convicted and fined $250.
43	I order that five months of the sentence imposed on Charge 2, and one month of the sentence imposed on Charge 3, be served cumulatively upon each other and the sentence imposed on Charge 1.
44	This makes for a total effective sentence of three years and three months imprisonment.  I order that you serve a period of two years and three months before becoming eligible for parole.
45	Pursuant to s6AAA Sentencing Act 1991, but for your plea of guilty, I would have impose a sentence of four years and three months with a three year and three month non-parole period.
46	Pursuant to s18(4) Sentencing Act 1991, I declare you have spent 206 days in custody by way of pre-sentence detention to be reckoned as served.
47	Pursuant to s89(4) Sentencing Act 1991, on Charge 3, theft of a motor vehicle, your driver’s licence is cancelled and you are disqualified from holding another for a period of 12 months from today's date.  All right, are there any other orders required?
48	MS PAGANIS:  No, Your Honour.
49	HIS HONOUR:  Thank you.  And the pre-sentence detention of 206 days, is that - we agree that that's correct?
50	MR TAIT:  Yes, Your Honour, it was 204 before plea, so an additional two days.
51	HIS HONOUR:  Yes, thank you very much.
52	MS PAGANIS:  That's correct, Your Honour.
53	HIS HONOUR:  Thank you both for your assistance, I will adjourn the court until 10.30 on Monday.
54	MS PAGANIS:  As Your Honour pleases, thank you.
55	MR TAIT:  Your Honour pleases.
- - -